


Call of the Void

by aretia



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-02
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-06-20 09:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15531147
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aretia/pseuds/aretia
Summary: For as long as Haggar could remember, they had been of one mind. United in the pursuit of life—in the crusade against death. She could not allow Zarkon to give up so easily.In their final moments, the emperor and empress remember their true selves and reconnect in limbo.





	Call of the Void

**Author's Note:**

> This is my fic for the Zaggar zine that I finally get to post now! Thank you to Arka for organizing the zine and Revasnaslan for beta reading my fic

It wasn’t supposed to end this way.

With his new armor and Haggar aiding him using the Komar, Zarkon was supposed to defeat Voltron effortlessly. But she hadn’t anticipated that the Champion would be able to steal Zarkon’s bayard and use it against him. Screams of despair were torn from her throat when Voltron’s sword pierced Zarkon’s armor. Helplessly, she clutched her hands to her chest, as if she had taken the blow herself. She looked back up at the shattered shell of Zarkon’s armor through narrowed eyes, gritting her teeth.

If only she could have protected him once more.

A flash of lightning filled the room and dragged Haggar’s attention back to the danger at hand. She turned her head slowly and peered over her shoulder. Her eyes widened in fear as she realized that she had no time to brace herself for what was coming.

When the Altean princess had stepped into the center of the rune circle, the Komar had responded to her energy. Haggar’s creation had a mind of its own, and it had betrayed her for a more powerful mage.

The tendrils of the black void danced alongside Allura’s pink lightning magic, and then plunged into Haggar’s chest in a concentrated blast. Haggar felt its power ripping through her, draining her quintessence, until she collapsed upon the floor.

 

Haggar felt as though she had been asleep for a long time, and had only just woken up. At the same time, she felt like she had never slept for the past ten thousand years, and finally had the chance to rest. Every memory in her head was so vivid, yet fading around the edges, like she couldn’t separate dreams from reality.

Disoriented, she observed her surroundings. Allura and the temple were gone. All around her was a white void. But something still remained in her awareness, a thought gnawing at the back of her mind that kept her from sleep.

_Zarkon._ She had to find Zarkon. She could still sense his energy, so he wasn’t gone yet. It pulled her like an invisible thread, and she followed it until it led her to a dark speck on the horizon of the empty space. Trepidation filled her as she drifted closer to it.

She found a cocoon made up of swirling purple entities that filled the empty void around them with an unsettling, diseased aura. Cold wind whipped past her face, tossing her hair to the side. The creatures’ discordant shrieks pounded in her ears.

Then, a hand thrust itself out of the cocoon. _Zarkon’s_ hand.

Before the creatures could absorb it again, Haggar grabbed his hand in both of hers. “Zarkon! Can you hear me?” she screamed.

His fingers wove between hers and clasped her hand tightly in response. She could feel him calling out to her through their connection, desperately straining for a breath of relief.

Still, it wasn’t enough. Zarkon’s hand slipped from her grasp. “No!” Haggar shrieked. She wouldn’t let them take him from her.

Dread took root in her chest, but she pushed against it and plunged her hands into the swarm. The creatures tried to take possession of her again. Their quintessence had an eerie familiarity. She recognized that they had been in her mind before, but when the Komar had stripped her of her quintessence, it had freed her from their influence as well.

If Zarkon was trapped in there, he had to be wading through a similar haze. He was beaten, but not broken. The real Zarkon was still in there.

She felt Zarkon’s hands lace with hers again, and this time she poured all of her energy into breaking him free and bringing him back to her. The cocoon shattered and dissipated into smoke, and Zarkon fell forward into her arms. He slumped against her, his larger frame enveloping her, but he didn’t feel heavy. Neither of them had mass anymore, so it was no effort to support him. They floated there in the empty space.

“Zarkon? Zarkon, wake up,” Haggar begged him. Her trembling hands grasped at his chest, and moved up to cup his chin. Now that she held him close, she could sense his quintessence through the link between their souls. His energy felt so weak that Haggar feared he would slip away at any moment.

Then, Zarkon’s eyes snapped open. They weren’t the glowing pink ones whose beauty she had come to know, but a striking yellow, with red irises. “Honerva?” he murmured.

_Honerva?_ She had heard the name once, millennia ago. Then, the realization crashed into her all at once—it was _her_ name. Suddenly, the memories came flooding back.

In a happier time, she and Zarkon were married. They had always stood by each other’s side, always facing the same direction toward progress. But their bright future had fallen apart when she gave up her own health for her research and became stricken with an incurable illness. She had almost lost her mind, but Zarkon, in his unbridled love for her, sacrificed everything to save her. And in the ten thousand years since then, she had stayed beside him, always knowing that beneath the fog in her mind, there was a part of her that belonged with him.

“…My husband,” Honerva replied. She cradled his face in her hands and brought it close to her own, touching their foreheads together. Then, the tears started to stream down her cheeks. She had forgotten, but after so long, she remembered how much she loved him. And he still loved her.

“Is it over?” Zarkon’s deep voice resonated within her mind.

“No, my love. Don’t give up,” Honerva said, her own strength restored by hearing his voice. “We can still go back. We can have it all. We can be immortal.”

Zarkon reached up to caress Honerva’s cheek. “I only wanted eternity with _you,_ ” he said. “I couldn’t live without you. But we can still spend eternity together.”

Honerva stared at him in surprise. For as long as she could remember, they had been of one mind. United in the pursuit of life—in the crusade against death. She could not allow him to give up so easily.

Her delicate fingers brushed against his temples, and she devoted what little quintessence she had left to reviving him. When his energy intermingled with hers, she felt the weight of his exhaustion bearing down on her as well. She could understand why he felt so hopeless… and she would do anything to take that burden from him. She drained herself into him, until his energy signature started to slip from her grasp. She stopped abruptly when she realized the risk she was taking.

She could bring him back. But it would cost them both dearly. The power of quintessence would consume him, and destroy what was left of his true self, just like those creatures had almost destroyed her. She could return to the living realm with Zarkon, but he would be nothing but an empty shell, a body propped up by quintessence and a heart devoid of feeling. Or she could stay here in limbo, basking in the light of his love until they both flickered out.

It wasn’t a choice at all.

She leaned against his chest, and watched as Zarkon’s eyes drifted closed. The wrinkles around his eyes softened, and he held her closer.

“Zarkon, no… Don’t go…” Honerva pleaded, though only empty hope lingered in her voice.

Zarkon’s mouth lifted in a soft smile before he went still. The outline of his body began to fade away, slipping through her fingers.

Honerva’s eyes screwed shut and she let out a sob of grief. Then, she tucked herself in underneath Zarkon’s arm, nestled upon his chest, and closed her eyes. She could still feel him, somewhere, guiding her towards new dimensions that they would explore together.

Wherever he went, she would follow.


End file.
